If you’re a musician, songwriter, composer, or music producer in Canada and you’re not a SOCAN member yet, this is the post you need to read today. SOCAN is the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, and it’s the organization that collects and distributes royalties every time your music is played publicly, whether that’s on the radio, on television, in a bar, on a streaming platform, at a live concert, or anywhere else music reaches people’s ears. If your music is out there and you’re not registered, you’re leaving money on the table that is legally and rightfully yours.
What SOCAN Actually Does
SOCAN is Canada’s largest performing rights organization. It represents composers, songwriters, and music publishers and ensures they’re paid when their music is played in public. Every time a business plays music, every time a radio station spins a track, every time a streaming service delivers a song to a listener in Canada, SOCAN is collecting licensing fees on behalf of the people who created that music. Without being a member, you have no way to claim your share of those fees. LinkedIn
The reach of this is broader than most people realize. SOCAN has the right to seek license fees from any internet service that communicates musical works in the territory of Canada, no matter where the transmission originates. That means whether your music is being streamed, broadcast, or performed live anywhere in Canada, SOCAN is working to make sure the people who created it get paid.
Who Can Join
To become a SOCAN member, music creators must meet the following criteria: be a music composer, songwriter, producer or lyricist, and have created a musical work or part of a musical work that has been published by a music publisher, recorded, or performed or will be performed in a public forum such as radio, television, film, live performance, satellite radio, ringtone or internet subject to licensing by SOCAN.
If you’re a music publisher rather than an individual creator, the requirements are slightly different. To become a SOCAN publisher member, you must have signed contracts showing you own at least five copyright-protected musical works written or co-written by a writer member of SOCAN or by a Canadian, or that you are entitled by contract to receive the publisher’s share of the performance credits of at least five copyright protected musical works.
How to Sign Up
The good news is that joining is straightforward and completely free. There is no fee to become a member. Simply fill in the application and return it to SOCAN. You can start the process directly at socan.com, where you’ll find separate application paths for writer members and publisher members. You’re just two steps away from joining nearly 150,000 music creators who get paid from SOCAN whenever and wherever their music is played. Once your application is submitted, SOCAN will send you an email with instructions to complete the process.
Once you’re a member, make sure you register all of your works in the SOCAN system. That’s how the royalty tracking actually works. Every song you register becomes searchable in their database, which is how they connect performances and plays back to you and make sure you receive what you’ve earned.
One More Thing Worth Knowing
If you are a songwriter, composer or publisher rightsholder you can also easily and conveniently have your reproduction rights managed by SOCAN by signing up for SOCAN for Reproduction Rights. This covers a different category of royalties related to the reproduction of your music, such as on CDs, downloads, and certain streaming uses, and it’s worth looking into alongside your performing rights membership.
The bottom line is simple. You’re making music. People are hearing it. You deserve to be paid for it. SOCAN exists to make sure that happens, and signing up takes very little time. Head to socan.com and get it done today.
